Digital Commons Network^™

Manumission In Virginia: A Christian Witness, Venture Ciccarelli

Helms School of Government Spring Public Policy Conference

While uncommon, slave manumissions occurred in the United States of America. Manumissions were voluntary releases of slaves through legal documents such as wills and deeds. While manumissions happened in many states prior to and during the Civil War, the Commonwealth of Virginia had the most manumissions. Varied reasons were given for the freeing of slaves, some of them religious. This article explores many of the explicitly Christian reasons given for the freeing of slaves, seeking to illustrate the connection between people’s political and legal action and their identities as followers of Christ, doing all things before the face of God. …

Preventing Inevitable Decline: The Message Plato And The Roman Empire Send To The American People, Emma G. Dayton

Helms School of Government Spring Public Policy Conference

Plato’s Theory of Inevitable Decline outlined heavily in his Republic provides the basis for this paper. One can compare his theory to several governments throughout history, such as the Roman Empire. By examining the Roman Empire, one identifies three areas where the republic erred: education, military defenses, and economic flourishing. Mistakes in these areas led to the country’s downfall. Taking Plato’s theory and drawing from Rome’s example, Plato’s Theory of Inevitable Decline can be tested against several independent variables in present-day America. The state of American decline can be studied by examining her education system, military defenses against outside threats, …

Readings From The Kenyan Constitution: A Critical Discourse Analysis On Legacy And Freedom, Sarah Marjie

Helms School of Government Spring Public Policy Conference

One of the most important documents about historical realities is the Constitution. It establishes the principles of fundamental human rights and institutional provisions for governing a country. Given the above, the study explores the aspects of the 2010 Kenyan Constitution, focusing on the themes of legacy and freedom. It aims to explore the relevant articles and chapters to show how the principles of legacy and freedom are articulated. It does this by paying attention to the language employed, the historical and cultural contexts adopted, and the power dynamics at play in the Constitution. The purpose of the study is to …

Comparing Modern Scottish And Indigenous North American Political States In Relation To Their Colonizers, Katrina Jorquez

Helms School of Government Spring Public Policy Conference

Colonization has had a major impact upon the formation and relationships of the vast majority of current countries. While much of colonization happened at a geographical distance from the conquering country this was not the case for Scotland or the majority of Indigenous North Americans. Both were geographically close to their colonizers (or inhabiting the same land, in the case of Indigenous Americans), but still maintained strong separate cultures that persist in spite of forced assimilation. As acts of colonization became more politically distasteful, the respective colonizers have both changed their relationships to the colonized state to allow for greater …

A More Perfect Disunion: Warning Signs Of Revolution And Regime Collapse, Elena Mccloy

Helms School of Government Spring Public Policy Conference

In the 14^th Century, the late European Latin lexicon had a new word to describe the cyclical nature in which regimes found themselves moving from periods of prosperity to periods of discontent, with each revolution fueled by the belief that radical change was necessary for survival. History rewards us with the opportunity to examine each cycle of revolution for distinct patterns of recurrence, so that we may be better prepared for the next stages of change. This paper outlines the most common trends indicating political upheaval, studying current and historical examples from The United States, the Middle East, and …

The Influence Of Hadrah Arts And Emotional Intelligence Towards The Students Social Skills At Mts Nurusshibyan, Siti Fatimah

Journal of Indonesian Tourism and Policy Studies

This study aims to determine the effect of hadrah activities and emotional intelligence on the social skills of students at Madrasah Tsanawiyah Nurusshibyan, Singkawang City. This research uses a quantitative research method with the use of questionnaires as a data collection tool. The subjects of this study were students at Madrasah Tsanawiyah Nurusshibyan in Singkawang City totaling 181 people with the following characteristics: MTs students, grades VII-IX, 101 female respondents and 80 male respondents. The sample determination used the Slovin formula with a Margin of Error of 5%. The results of the study are as follows: (1) Social skills at …

Mal-Information, The Anatomy Of An “Information Disorder”, Susan Maret

Secrecy and Society

Mal-information is a fairly recent addition to federal policy and the lexicon of political communication with implications for understanding censorship and secrecy during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper reviews documents authored by IGOs, NGOs, and the US government that mark the evolution of mal-information as true information intended to cause harm. The term, as it is currently employed, is now associated with misinformation and disinformation to create a complex of “information disorders” known as the acronym MDM. In this paper, the creep of the term mal-information and its use by federal agencies such as the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency …

A Narrative Review Of The Covid-19 Infodemic And Censorship In Healthcare, Mitchell Liester, Sohaib Ashraf, Patricia Callisperis, Hector Carvallo, Shankara Chetty, Robert Enzenauer, Carlos Franco-Paredes, Raul Pineda, Panagis Polykretis, Rachel Wilkenson, Peter Mccullough

Secrecy and Society

Ideological and financial motivations have undermined science for decades. In this narrative review, we explore how organizations and governments used misinformation, disinformation, censorship, and secrecy to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. Various rationales for employing censorship and secrecy during the COVID-19 pandemic are examined including how organizations and governments create confusion about the risks associated with their products and blame avoidance to shift responsibility and to avoid accountability for their actions. Methods of censorship employed during the COVID-19 pandemic are reviewed, examples are provided, and the consequences of these actions are reviewed. Information included in this review was obtained from scientific …

Covid Cover-Up: Secrecy, Censorship And Suppression During The Pandemic, Brian Martin

Secrecy and Society

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, most health authorities, governments, and mass media organizations presented a single official view concerning lockdowns, masking, distancing, and vaccines. The methods used against contrary views can be classified into four types: flooding, ignoring, censoring, and attacking. The method of information flooding involves presenting dominant views in a unified front, overwhelming contrary views by volume and consistency. The method of ignoring includes the absence of research on alternative approaches, failure to report on research contrary to orthodoxy, and not mentioning challenging views. Censoring involves active measures to prevent the circulation of contrary information and …

“Burned At The Stake”: Unpacking Disinformation In The Story Of A Coach Allegedly “Terminated” For Expressing Anti-Transgender Women Athlete Beliefs, Ellen J. Staurowsky

Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics

On August 29, 2023, a video testimony entitled ‘Burned at the Stake’: One NCAA Coach’s Battle to Protect Women’s Sport was released. The film was part of a “female athlete storytelling series” developed and funded by the Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) designed to support the IWF’s stated agenda to “fight to save women’s sports and counter the radical agenda that seeks to erase women” by allowing transgender girls and women on teams that match their identities. The central figure in the video is Kim Russell, then head women’s lacrosse coach at NCAA Division III Oberlin College, who claimed her right …

Mobilizing Prevention And Early Detection Of Alzheimer's Disease And Related Dementias (Adrd) In Allegheny County Through The Area Agency On Aging (Aaa), Laiba N. Mirza

Public Health Capstone Projects

1. Objectives: In collaboration with the Department of Human Services (DHS): the Area Agency on Aging (AAA) using the Healthy Brain Initiative (HBI), my capstone project will involve the development of a comprehensive literature review examining the impacts of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) on patients and their caregivers. The project aims to help the AAA focus on strategies to delay the onset of ADRD in Allegheny County. It also seeks to evaluate and enhance early detection programs for ADRD established by the AAA in communities within the county. Additionally, the project will explore how public health initiatives can …

Human Rights Violations In Counter-Terrorism Efforts: A Qualitative Study Of Victims Experiences In Nigeria, Ifeoma E. Okoye, Pius Adejoh

African Journal of Criminology and Justice Studies

Abstract

This study explores the complex nature of human rights violations in the context of countering terrorism in Nigeria. Consequent to the persistent threat of terrorism, especially since the 2009 Boko Haram terrorist' attacks, the Nigerian government has enforced several measures in order to provide national security and save its citizens from terrorist attacks. However, the implementation of these counterterrorism strategies has constituted human rights abuses. This study examined the complicated human rights violations that occurred in the government's counterterrorism framework by utilizing a detailed review of scholarly literature, legislations, media reports, United Nations' provisions, findings from non-governmental human rights …

Recovering Palestinian Lives: Qudsiyya Khurshid From Mandate Palestine To Postwar Pennsylvania, Andrea L. Stanton

Religious Studies: Faculty Scholarship

This article works to recover the life story of Qudsiyya Khurshid, a once well-known Mandate Palestinian intellectual and educator, who wrote essays for publication and for broadcasting on the Palestine Broadcasting Service, while working as a principal at girls’ schools in al-Bireh and Jerusalem. One of a number of educated women active in the Mandate public sphere, she disappeared from public consciousness after the Nakba. But in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, where she had moved with her husband, a naturalized U.S. citizen, she became a prominent figure in civic work and as a community speaker on Palestinian and Middle Eastern life …

Climate Change Policies And Good Governance In Egypt, Mahmoud Elshourbagy

Theses and Dissertations

Egypt recognizes the impacts of climate change and is particularly vulnerable because of its high-density population, economic burden and geographical location. In response, Egypt established National Climate Change Council in 2016. In 2022, the council issued “National Climate Change Strategy 2050” to integrate and align the efforts of government bodies to adapt and mitigate climate change risks. One of the strategic goals of “National Climate Change Strategy 2050” is to enhance climate governance in Egypt as a critical tool. This study attempts to evaluate climate change policies in the context of good governance by using a tool developed by World …

Racial Discrimination In Retailers' Willingness To Accept Returns: A Field Study, Meirav Furth-Matzkin

Northwestern University Law Review

Black Americans have long faced discriminatory treatment while shopping in retail establishments, including, most notably, being subjected to increased surveillance, inconsistent pricing, and inferior customer service. Little attention, however, has been paid to other post-purchase aspects of retail transactions. Specifically, do Black Americans receive the same treatment as white customers when it comes to performing sellers’ formal policies or contracts? While it is understood that salespeople are often given discretion to deviate from standard form contracts, sometimes departing from the literal terms to satisfy consumers, there has been a notable absence of systematic exploration into how salespeople exercise this authority …

How Insider-Led Processes Lead To Localization: The Case Of Digital Technology And Humanitarian Protection, Oliver Kaplan, Emily Paddon Rhoads

Global and Public Affairs: Faculty Scholarship

The humanitarian sector has been increasingly concerned with localizing its activities—devolving capacity, power, and decision-making authority to the local communities and organizations that are the frequent recipients of its assistance. However, the mere “outsider-led” provision of assistance to local actors is not itself sufficient to empower them. In- stead, we argue that “insider-led,” locally initiated processes can be an effective approach to localization. We identify how such shifts can occur and distinguish three different configurations of “insider-led” processes: Autonomous Adopters, Balanced Partners, and Exporting Entrepreneurs. We examine “insider-led” localization in the context of the use of Information and Communication Technologies …

Youtube Upload Scheduling Strategy For Improving The Video Quantity And Audiences' Segmentation Accuracy At Pt Talenta Entertainment, Paris Dermawan

Journal of Indonesian Tourism and Policy Studies

Youtube provides features for its users to upload and watch other users' videos. PT. Talenta Entertainment utilizes YouTube to upload creative videos of each talent that has been produced. In addition, in addition to the right media, creative and interesting content also needs to be distributed at the right time so that the upload time is right with the free time of the audience segment. Therefore, the content upload scheduling strategy plays an important role in finding the right time for the audience segment so that it can increase the number of views that have been uploaded. The purpose of …

Community-Driven Policy Solutions To Police Accountability, Rashawn Ray

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

George Floyd’s death shifted public opinion as 76% of Americans agreed that incidents such as the killing of Floyd are signs of racism within law enforcement. While police reforms such as implicit bias training and body-worn cameras gained public support, they insufficiently address the structural, cultural, and organizational components of policing that can obstruct accountability and contribute to racial disparities in policing. In this lecture, Brooking Senior Fellow Rashawn Ray presents interview, survey, social media, and virtual reality data with police officers, activists, and civilians, and demonstrates state- and city-level databases on police reform legislation. Ray posits that evidence-based policy …

Guardians Or Bystanders? Examining School Shooting Responses In The Southern United States, Andre L. Tompkins Ed.D.

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

School shootings challenge educational safety, demanding effective leadership strategies. The Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which claimed the lives of 19 children and 2 teachers, heightened concerns about campus vulnerabilities, urging administrators to prioritize student protection. I performed a qualitative study interviewing principals, teachers, parents, and community leaders to examine their experiences addressing campus threats. The findings revealed three themes: (1) ineffective leadership affects campus safety, (2) prompt actions enhance trust in leadership, and (3) connecting with others enhances safety. In this study, I spotlight the crucial role that proactive leadership plays in building the coalitions needed to …

Energy Saving Through Climate Education: Climate Sensitization In School For Mindful Consumption At Home, Haritha Saranga, Satyajit Roy, Kanchan Mukherjee

Working Papers

An effective fight against climate change requires both a “top-down” approach and “bottom-up” changes; that is, adopting sustainable practices at the individual and household levels, which requires knowledge, belief, and willingness to engage in climate action. Extant research has shown a number of challenges in bringing about persistent changes in human behavior. We propose to bring about mindful energy consumption behavior at the household level by using children as the conduit for behavior change. Scalable interventions that create awareness about climate change and its impact through early self-regulation in middle and high schools are a promising and cost-effective opportunity to …

Accessibility Disclosure Statements: Best Practices For Documenting Inclusive And Accessible Web-Based Research Design, Alicia Mason, Elizabeth Spencer, Pan Liu, Kristen Livingston, Sakshi Bhati, Angela Ashmore, Tristan A. Spencer, Lauren Shepard

Faculty Submissions

Accessibility disclosure is a core principle of the Project IRIS Best Practice Framework. This instructional resource-- Accessibility Disclosure Statements: Best Practices for Documenting Inclusive Web-Based Research Design-introduces options for reporting accessible web-based research design efforts in scholarly and professional publications. The three forms of accessibility disclosure statements are introduced: summary statements, reports of analysis--both general and specific-, and detailed process descriptions. Each of these strategies including terms, conceptual definitions, and examples are provided. The instructional resource may be of interest to undergraduate and graduate course instructors teaching research methods courses in a variety of social science disciplines.

Investigating The Conversion Of A Signalized Intersection To A Turbo Roundabout, Vyshnavi Shetty, Mycola Sauciur, Anurag Pande

Mineta Transportation Institute

Turbo roundabouts are multilane roundabouts with helical pavement markings and raised structures. While they have seen widespread use in Europe, California is only the second state in the U.S. (after Florida) to have installed a turbo roundabout. Turbo roundabouts separate the ingress and circulating roadways. The concept was proposed and implemented in the Netherlands to mitigate congestion by improving traffic flow efficiency and addressing safety concerns on conventional multilane roundabouts. This research evaluates the first-ever turbo roundabout in California and compares its safety and operational performance with the previously existing 4-legged signalized intersection. The research team obtained safety and operational …

Smart Highway Construction Site Monitoring Using Artificial Intelligence, Mehran Mazari, Yahaira Nava-Gonzalez, Ly Jacky N. Nhiayi, Mohamad H. Saleh

Mineta Transportation Institute

Construction is a large sector of the economy and plays a significant role in creating economic growth and national development,and construction of transportation infrastructure is critical. This project developed a method to detect, classify, monitor, and track objects during the construction, maintenance, and rehabilitation of transportation infrastructure by using artificial intelligence and a deep learning approach. This study evaluated the performance of AI and deep learning algorithms to compare their performance in detecting and classifying the equipment in various construction scenes. Our goal was to find the optimized balance between the model capabilities in object detection and memory processing requirements. …

Economic Coercion And Grey Zone Competition: Reassessing The China-Australia Case, Naoise Mcdonagh, Sascha Dominik Dov Bachmann

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Economic coercion is recognized as a major policy challenge for global leaders. The case of Beijing’s use of economic coercion against Australia (2020–2024) in response to bilateral tensions holds important insights. Research shows that China’s coercion efforts failed in two ways: the total costs to Australia’s economy were smaller than expected, and Canberra did not change pre-existing policies that triggered the coercion. Failure in this case is attributed to the ability of markets to adjust. Building on this research, we argue that while markets adapted relatively well in the Australia-China case, coercion still produced significant and concentrated subnational costs that …

Assessing The Impact Of Anti-Dei Legislation In Florida: An Exploratory Study, Diane L. Odeh, Jan-Martijn Meij

Public Administration Faculty Publications and Presentations

The aim of this study determines what influence, if any, legislation aimed at censoring discussions and practices related to equity has on the ethical decision-making behavior of staff and faculty at a regional university within the state of Florida. Using inductive analysis, themes related to how one navigates profession-based ethics, political pressures, and personal ethics in higher education work will be evaluated. This contributes to the field of administrative ethics by exploring how ideology-based political pressure and direct legislative intervention on the bureaucracy impacts the practice of promoting social equity within public administration; and how an individual balances competing ethical …

Exploratory Study Of The Relationship Between Housing Affordability And Violent Crime, Larence Budrich Snowden

Dissertations (2016-Present)

This dissertation investigates the complex relationship between violent crime and affordable housing through a mixed-methods approach. It merges quantitative crime data with qualitative insights from residents of public housing developments and areas concentrated with housing choice vouchers in Houston, Texas. The study aims to understand the statistical dimensions of crime and the subjective perceptions of residents living within areas of affordable housing and adjacent to these communities. The backdrop of this research focuses on Houston's metropolitan area housing landscape. The city is characterized by clusters of significant concentrations of affordable housing, primarily through traditional public housing developments and the allocation …

2025 March, Morehead State University. Office Of Communications & Marketing.

Morehead State Press Release Archive, 1961 to the Present

Press releases for March of 2025.

Assessing The Perceived Safety Of Cyclists With Virtual Reality, Vahid Balali

Mineta Transportation Institute

In 2022, 7,522 pedestrians and 1,084 bicyclists were killed and approximately 67,000 pedestrians and 46,195 bicyclists injured in motor vehicle crashes on public roadways in the United States, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). The transportation industry is faced with a pressing need to bolster the safety of these vulnerable road users. This research develops models of design and environmental factors that influence bicyclists’ and pedestrians’ perception of safety using Virtual Reality (VR) technology and ultimately informs transportation infrastructure design to better accommodate nonmotorized travelers. The goal of the bicycle element of this research is to develop …

Manage External And Internal Threats To Commercial Spaces, Alan Saquella

Publications

Securing commercial buildings is a multifaceted challenge that demands a comprehensive and proactive approach. From office complexes and retail hubs to industrial facilities and healthcare institutions, these spaces serve as critical pillars of commerce, administration, and service delivery. Protecting them requires a blend of physical safeguards, advanced technologies and well-defined operational protocols.

تشخيص واقع مواقع التواصل الاجتماعي وفاعلية الرسالة التسويقية الإلكترونية: حالة دراسية لعينة من طلاب جامعة بغداد, ماهر فاضل محمد

Muthanna Journal of Administrative and Economics Sciences

تتناول هذه الدراسة تشخيص مواقع التواصل الاجتماعي و فاعلية الرسالة التسويقية الإلكترونية، وذلك من خلال دراسة حالة لعينة من طلاب جامعة بغداد. يهدف البحث إلى تحليل دور منصات التواصل الاجتماعي في تحسين التفاعل مع الإعلانات التجارية وزيادة الوعي بالعلامة التجارية. اعتمدت الدراسة على المنهج الوصفي التحليلي، حيث تم جمع البيانات باستخدام استبيان وزع على 200 طالب، وتم تحليلها إحصائيًا باستخدام معامل ألفا كرونباخ لاختبار الثبات، بالإضافة إلى اختبار التوزيع الطبيعي.

وتتمثل مشكلة البحث تعد الرسائل التسويقية التي تُرسل عبر منصات التواصل الاجتماعي و فاعليتها في استهداف الجمهور، خصوصًا في بيئة العراق الجامعية. ومن هنا، يطرح هذا البحث تساؤلًا رئيسيًا: ما …